About NCIMB

NCIMB is a Scottish company based in Aberdeen with an international client-base.

We ship microbial cultures to scientists around the world and offer a trusted range of analytical and biological material storage services.

Our customers include household names in food, drink and energy production, as well as some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical manufacturers. We also work with small companies and start-ups.

Protecting their business is our business.

Whoever we are working with, and whatever product or service we are providing, we pride ourselves on delivering high levels of customer service.

Customers use our services to:

comply with industry and environmental regulations
develop and refine their products and processes
safeguard their valuable biological material

70 years of excellence in microbiology.

NCIMB Ltd was established as a company in 1982, but our history goes back to 1950 when our culture collection was first established as part of the UK Civil Service. We are proud of our heritage and strive to deliver products and services that meet our customers’ high expectations.

Our People and Values

At NCIMB our people are our most important asset.

Our team includes ~28 highly qualified and experienced laboratory technicians and scientists. They are specialists in the preservation and storage of microorganisms, microbial sequencing, identification, bioinformatics analysis, and quality assurance. As a team we always put our customers first and all our staff have a CLEAR focus on our company values:

Customer focus: we believe that our customer-focussed approach and the relationships we build are our greatest strengths. The feedback we receive from our customers backs this up.
Learning: we are committed to continuous improvement and investment in our capabilities.
Excellence: we strive to be experts in our field and are committed to providing excellent customer service.
Accountability: everyone at NCIMB takes responsibility for the tasks assigned to them and is accountable for what they do.
Respect: at NCIMB, we treat our colleagues, customers, suppliers and the environment in which we operate with respect.

Our Facilities

We are currently at a very exciting stage in our development which will see us move into custom designed laboratories located close to Aberdeen Airport in early 2022.

We operate a well-established quality management system certified to ISO 9001:2015 and undertake microbial identification to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards.

We are equipped with the latest technology for sequencing and identification of microorganisms, including Sanger and next generation sequencing platforms and a range of qPCR platforms.

We house the UK’s National Collection of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria on-site and have the facilities to offer biological material storage customers a flexible service ranging from storage of a few cryogenic vials in a shared freezer to customised high security storage vessels or dedicated areas.

Our Services

NCIMB services support clients in their quality control procedures, research and development projects, intellectual property protection and compliance with environmental regulations.

Culture collection - The National Collection of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria provides a vital, underpinning biological resource. Our reference strains are used for research and development, education and quality control purposes.

Microbial identification - NCIMB’s skilled microbiologists have extensive experience of providing fast and accurate identification of bacteria and fungi to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. Our identification customers include well-known, multinational companies from the pharmaceutical and food & drink sectors, as well as small, innovative companies and university researchers.

Storage - At NCIMB we are experts in biological material storage. We are custodians of a national culture collection, and recognised internationally as a depository for biological material that is the subject of patents. Our storage services allow organisations whose work depends on biological material that would be difficult to replace should disaster strike, to benefit from this expertise.

Whole genome sequencing and strain characterisation - The in-depth understanding of microbial strains that whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis can give is a valuable tool in relation to the industrial application of microorganisms. At NCIMB we have invested in the latest sequencing technology to offer this service.

Microbial community analysis - At NCIMB we use the most accurate sequencing technology to help customers understand and monitor whole microbial communities from a range of sources, including human, industrial and environmental.

Molecular Diagnostics – the molecular diagnostics department is a new service which was created in order to support COVID 19 testing during the pandemic. We are now actively developing this area to utilise the capacity and expertise developed while delivering an essential service to the offshore oil and gas industry.

Oilfield Microbiology – Microbial monitoring is an essential step towards safeguarding your assets against the effects of corrosion. At NCIMB we use a range of complimentary techniques for the microbial analysis of samples from oil and gas facilities, supply media kits to customers who undertake their own testing and undertake biocide testing

Current Performance

The company has an ambitious growth strategy and has doubled revenues in the last two consecutive years.

More information can be found below:

Living and Working in Aberdeen

NCIMB is located in Aberdeen in the North East of Scotland and is well served by road, rail, shipping and air links so is easily connected to both nationally and internationally. Aberdeen is a dynamic and thriving area and benefits from a diverse mix of industry sectors including life sciences, energy and food & drink and NCIMB’s products and services have evolved to support these growing areas. There are numerous supporting networks and flagship projects underway within the region which makes a move to Aberdeen a very exciting prospect at this time. For more details on some of these projects and living and working in Aberdeen please visit some of these excellent websites: